1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a solid state power supply circuit for a corona discharge device such as an ozonator, and more particularly pertains to a thyristor inverter power supply circuit employing a current source inverter with controlled gating of the thyristors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art that ozone can be produced by the passage of oxygen or air between two electrodes, between which an electrical corona discharge is maintained. Other processes for producing ozone, such as by spark discharge or by action of ultra-violet radiation, have not been of great industrial significance because the ozone yield is considerably lower. The production of ozone by a corona discharge is of considerable importance in broad areas of industry, for water treatment in the preparation of drinking water, and for water purification and sterilization.
The basic physical principles for synthesizing ozone by passing pure oxygen or other oxygen-containing gases such as air through a corona discharge device have been known for many years. In a typical corona discharge ozonator, a corona discharge is maintained across a gap between two electrodes and is characterized by a low current induced by a sufficiently large voltage gradient to cause an electrical corona discharge across the gas. The gas is only slightly ionized thereby and a diffused soft bluish glow results. The high voltages employed to operate corona discharge ozonators have frequently been obtained by passing a periodic signal of some type through the primary side of a step-up power transformer, and connecting the ozonator load across the periodic high voltage available on the secondary side of the transformer.
Over the years, significant efforts have been made to refine ozone generators and the power supplies therefor which form an integral part of their operating circuitry. These efforts have been particularly directed at increasing their efficiency to reduce both their cost of operation and the cost of manufacture of ozone per unit of power consumed. Many factors have contributed to setting prior art limitations of efficiency, including the characteristics of the voltage and current periodic waveforms.
Ozone forms according to a triple collision theory, pursuant to which oxygen molecules are accelerated in an alternating electric field, and three molecules of oxygen (O.sub.2) reform to two molecules of ozone (O.sub.3). The formation of ozone generally occurs in the last part of an acceleration phase when the corona discharge has built up a sufficient field strength, which occurs relatively late with sinusoidal AC voltages furnished from a commercial AC line voltage, or from a voltage derived therefrom in a multiplying operation producing a frequency of up to several hundred hertz.
Ozone generating systems operating at higher frequencies generally produce higher ozone yields, with normal AC line voltage, since the accelerataion per unit time appears more frequently. However, because the corona power dissipated in a gaseous gap in a series with a dielectric barrier is directly proportional to the operating frequency, any significant heating produced by this corona power tends to promote the rapid decomposition of ozone produced therein. Thus, the duration of the discharge in relation to the duration of the period of the alternating current applied to the ozonator is an important factor in the efficiency of the production of ozone.